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Friday, June 1, 2012

Who Is Adrienne's Favorite?

At a recent book signing, a reader looking over the various hot men on my covers (J) asked which of "my guys" was my favorite.

That's like asking a parent who their favorite child is. I dutifully replied that I loved them all. To this, she offered me a whopping eye roll. After sharing a laugh over my inability to pick my favorite hero, I explained my position.

Vic Andrews, the hero in Man Law, is my irreverent guy. I often joke that I'd like to be Vic when I grow up. He goes after what he wants and generally leaves no prisoners. Plus, I think he's funny. But, considering I created him, that might just be me. Michael (Risking Trust hero) is the protective sort. When it comes to his loved ones, he lets nothing get in the way of keeping them safe. Then there's Peter (A Just Deception). Peter, also known as "Monk", might be the most tormented of the bunch. He's my over-the-top alpha male who thinks he needs to take on everyone's problems. Then he has to fix them. He can't seem to help himself.

Which leads me to the hero in my latest release. Gavin Sheppard is a former FBI hostage negotiator who would spend weeks talking a hostage taker down if it meant avoiding violence. Gavin isn't opposed to "going tactical", he just wants to make sure the good guys have explored all their options.

Gavin, a mere five-foot-ten (as opposed to Vic Andrews at six-foot-five), is at ease walking into a room filled with some of the biggest, baddest spec ops guys in the world. He understands his value. Even if the Taylor Security guys can outshoot him, he has the patience to outthink them.

And he knows it.

I believe that's Gavin's strength. His magic bullet. It's that special thing that makes me love him just as much as the other characters in this series.

Readers, do you have a favorite character from a book? What is it about that character that you love?

**As a special treat for the Just Romantic Suspense readers, everyone gets a FREE digital copy of Risking Trust, book one in the Private Protectors Series. Simply go to the Carina Press website, add Risking Trust to your cart and enter the coupon code RSAGFREE at checkout. The free download will be available between 12:00 am – 11:59 pm EST on June 1st only.If you have any problems (or miss the deadline), feel free to email me and I'll get a copy of the book to you.**

Excerpt from Negotiating Point:

Gavin dialed the number Janet had provided for Joe Smith and waited to see how this opening volley would go. More than likely, Joe would nearly soil himself when he realized who was on the other end of the line. After said soiling, Joe would hang up.

Gavin settled into the folding chair behind him and hit Redial. Dipshit Joe Smith didn’t know Gavin had the tenacity to sit here all day dialing this number. He wouldn’t do that though. Soon, he’d deliver a throw phone, a dedicated line allowing the kidnappers to speak only with him.

He’d spend a week talking a hostage taker down if it avoided tactical assault. Vic was the tactical guy, always ready to take up arms. In the six months of Gavin’s employ at Taylor Security, he and Vic hadn’t yet figured out how to merge their expertise and play nice. Gavin didn’t necessarily have a problem with going tactical, but it meant all other attempts to resolve the situation had failed.

Gavin didn’t like to fail.

Going tactical also carried the highest risk of someone getting hurt. Or killed. In this case, that someone could be Roxann Taylor.

He redialed. Nothing.

Gavin stood, slipped a radio head-set on, walked across the width of the barn to the rectangular table where he found the case containing the throw phone. He grabbed it and the bullhorn sitting next to it. “I’ll be back. Hopefully.”

And when had he become so warped that he could be sarcastic about this? Probably after the hostage situation in Arkansas ten months ago. That fiasco wasn’t his screw-up but he was one of four FBI negotiators assigned to it.

The twelve dead people, all members of a cult murdered by their leader, were his motivating factor for leaving the Bureau after twelve years. At thirty-eight years old, he’d been aging fast in a job that was bleeding the life out of him.

Enter Mike Taylor and his ridiculously appealing offer.

“Be careful,” Janet called after him.

“I’ll use the guys to cover me. They’ll do that stacking thing they love with the shields and I’ll throw the phone through a window.”

Janet jumped from her chair. “Hang on. You need a vest and helmet.”

She grabbed a vest from the box on the floor and held it up for him. He propped the bullhorn under the arm where he held the throw phone and slid his free arm into the tac vest.

“Now the other arm,” she said.

“Yes, Mommy.”

She laughed. “Come to Mama, sweetheart.”

Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and women's fiction. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a co-founder of Romance University blog and Lady Jane's Salon-Naperville, a reading series dedicated to romantic fiction. For more information on Adrienne's books please visit www.AdrienneGiordano.com. Adrienne can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AdrienneGiordanoAuthor and Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdriennGiordano.

24 comments:

Well, Adrienne, I can understand how you are not able to pick a favorite hero of your books - they are all great in different ways. How about your favorite story of them all? I think mine is still Risking Trust. I am a sucker for couples that are reunited. I just love how after so much time and crap that happened to Michael and Roxann they still found their way back to each other.

As for a favorite character from a book, it is hard to say. There are so many great ones out there. The ones that I tend to pick out are the ones either I want to be more like and are usually the least like me. I like the strong heroine that kicks butt and stands up for herself. I like the heroes that are intimidating on the outside and can kick butt, however, they will do anything for their woman even if it goes against their "image." Congrats on Negotiating Point! Gavin is an awesome hero!

Hi, Amy! Thanks for popping by. You are such a loyal reader! Thank you. My favorite story? Hmmm, that's a tough one too. I think I had the most fun with Man Law because Vic is, well, he's Vic! I also loved revisiting Michael and Roxann while I was rewriting Risking Trust. I think that one would have to go at the top of the list for emotional reasons. Risking Trust was the first book I'd written and it took a lot of rewrites and edits to get it ready for publication. So, in my heart, that has to be my favorite because it proves to me that hard work pays off.

Hello, Ms. Cynthia! Thank you for stopping to say hi. I regret to inform you that it is my goal to kill your book budget. :) Kidding! Maybe.

Thank you for all the support of this series. I think these characters have all taken a little piece of me and I'm grateful readers have connected to them. It's just a darned fun series to write!

I think Vic (and Izzy from A Just Deception) both had a tough journey in different ways. Vic was most definitely the hardest to break. He just refused to go down. Then I had to get mean and he finally gave in. :)

Hi, Melissa. Vic is one of those characters who refuses to go away. LOL. He somehow manages to worm his way into every book. I had fun putting him at odds with Gavin in Negotiating Point. Gavin isn't afraid of him and, as much as it secretly drives Vic crazy, he also respects him for it. The heroes in my books all tend to be alphas, but Gavin is a little different. He's definitely an alpha, but he's sneaky about it.:)

By the way, I'm running a contest on Twitter and Facebook for a free advance copy of Negotiating Point so jump over and check out the tweets!

Thank you for stopping and for being such a loyal reader! You guys make this fun for me.

I loved that about Gavin! He isn't afraid of Vic at all. I fell in love with Gavin when I read his story, too. While I thought Michael was most like my husband, I now realize Gavin is (which is why I have a soft spot for Gavin). Gavin is very logical and doesn't want to go all tactical and crazy until he tries things calmly. Gavin is sneaky about being alpha - and I realize my husband is like that, too. One of my friends (a husband of a friend) told me my husband needs to be in charge in all situations but you would never know by just meeting him. He is so right! Your stories are fun, Adrienne! Everyone will love Negotiating Point!

I like all your covers - that is a tough choice. There are so many heroes I like, but Archer Daniels in Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell is still one of my favorites. Thanks so much for the free book too.

Thank you for sharing the free book code with us! I know I have 2 of your other books on my NOOK, but I have not gotten to them yet... looks like I am missing some interesting characters. I will have to try to get to them soon! :)

Wow, picking a favorite character? I don't know if I can do it...although there are some who stick with me, and I want to reread their stories, so maybe there's something about the characters and what they go through. Lately, I've wanted to reread a Nora Roberts trilogy I read long ago...I think it's Sister Island, or something like that? There were three heroines in that trilogy, if I'm remembering correctly, who didn't get along or were very different, but had to get past their differences to work together (to save themselves...I won't give more away than that. ;) ). It was an interesting dilemma.

WOW! What a generous giveaway! Thank you so much! I look forward to reading this book! This will be my first of your books :) I had this book on my wishlist and I'm so excited to start this series!

I don't have any fav characters that necessarily stand out (well right now, it's kinda late and I'm all brain fuzz). I guess it's whatever book I'm reading at the moment and if I like it. Right now I'm reading Blue Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells and I'm really enjoying Sabina and company.

My favorite hero is Max Savoire in Nancy Gideon's Moonlight series. Max is dark but at the same time, there is a vulnerability about him. He is strong physically but at the same time he has his own demons to face.

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A recipe that includes a dash of desperation, a smidgen of danger, a dollop of adventure and a healthy portion of passion. Sprinkle a happy ending on top and you have the perfect meal. - JUST ROMANTIC SUSPENSE